What The FinTech #139 - 7 May 2023
🚀 Welcome to What The Fintech - your weekly dose of electrifying insights, game-changing breakthroughs, and dazzling trends from the pulse-pounding world of fintech across Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and Asia! As your go-to source for top headlines and industry insights, we're here to keep you updated on the latest innovations revolutionizing the way we think about finance and technology in this dynamic region.
Prepare to embark on a thrilling adventure through the digital landscape as we explore the ground-breaking developments, visionary startups, and trailblazing trends that are shaping the future of finance in Asia and beyond. So buckle up, grab your favorite beverage, and get ready to ignite your curiosity with the latest and greatest from the fintech universe! Let's dive in! 🌊💡💸
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What was the FinTech this week in: 📰
HONG KONG
HSBC, DBS, China Citic, and other banks offer a range of incentives in Hong Kong to entice mainland business during the first post-Covid "golden week" holiday
HSBC, DBS, China Citic, and other banks offer range of incentives in Hong Kong to entice mainland business during the first post-Covid "golden week" holiday
HSBC, DBS, and China CiticBank International are among the city‘s major lenders that have offered a wide range of incentives including extended operating hours at certain branches, with an eye on the surge of mainland visitors to Hong Kong during the ―golden week‖ holidays. These banks are offering incentives such as free limousine service, luxury hotel rooms, and meals, Covid vaccines, as well as Ocean Park tickets and shopping vouchers to entice wealthy mainland visitors to open new bank accounts or time deposits during the first golden week holiday period in the post-Covid era. Immigration Department figures on Sunday showed 165,669 mainland travelers crossed the border into Hong Kong on April 29, at the start of the mainland‘s five-day May Day holiday, known as the golden week.
SINGAPORE
SG's Advance Intelligence group raises $80m led by Warburg Pincus and Northstar
DBS launches tool in mobile app to help those below 55 years old plan for retirement
Xtend celebrates global launch of AI ad-engine with top e-commerce partners from around the world
OCBC expands scheme to teach seniors digital banking skills and how to avoid scams
SG's Advance Intelligence group raises $80m led by Warburg Pincus and Northstar
Singapore-based AI-driven technology firm Advance Intelligence Group has raised $80 million led by existing investors Warburg Pincus and Northstar Group. Advance Intelligence Group has three business units: Advance. AI, Atome Financial, and Ginee. Advance. AI is an AI-powered software provider of digital identity, compliance, and risk management solutions for enterprises. Some of its products include AI facial recognition, AI document recognition, and AI document processing, which it offers to over 700 corporates in 11 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Atome Financial is one of Asia‘s leading fintech players encompassing three main brands —Atome, KreditPintar, and ND Finance. It offers buy-now-pay-later (Atome) and digital lending services (KreditPintar, ND Finance) to over 20 million consumers across 10 key Asian markets in different categories such as fashion, beauty, lifestyle, electronics, travel, and homeware.
DBS launches tool in mobile app to help those below 55 years old plan for retirement
To encourage those aged below 55 to plan for retirement early, DBS Bank has incorporated a new feature –―Your CPF –in its digibank app to give users a clearer picture of their CPFsavings. The new tool will enable CPF members to benchmark their retirement savings against the projected CPF retirement sums for their age cohort. This will allow them to take steps to close the gaps in their retirement savings.
Xtend celebrates global launch of AI ad-engine with top e-commerce partners from around the world
Xtend, a provider of futuristic marketing technologies, announced the launch of a world-class AI-first retargeting engine and opened its global headquarters in Singapore. The company hosted its top existing e-commerce partners such as Tokopedia and Lazada at a global preview on April 20. Xtend‘s dynamic team of industry stalwarts will be supporting these companies to reach, convert and re-engage their users. Built on a large-scale AI model, Xtend provides an algorithm that predicts based on typical user profiles instead of usual marketing funnels. It allows us to anticipate a user‘s next preferred engagement with a brand -whether via discovery, product comparisons, or a flash deal. Xtend will also incorporate a large section of owned and operated contextual e-commerce inventory, tagged as ―SHOPit, to create a more native environment for users to interact with e-commerce offers outside of their core platforms. Through SHOPit, a platform-agnostic plug-and-play solution, Xtendis able to accurately pinpoint lapses in the user journey and effectively help businesses retarget using unique and customized user scenarios, and AI Generated Content (AIGC) native creations.
OCBC expands scheme to teach seniors digital banking skills and how to avoid scams
More than 300 seniors have learned how to bank and pay digitally while staying safe from scams, and OCBC Bank aims to upskill 2,000 more by the end of 2023. Under the Digital Silvers program by OCBC, senior customers are given one-to-one training in everyday digital banking and payment skills, including how to make QR code payments and PayNow transfers. The frequency of the workshops will be increased from about twice a month to three times a week. Every branch of the bank will run at least one workshop every two months. almost one in every three customers who walk into an OCBC branch for over-the-counter teller transactions today is aged 60 and above, and the top two reasons such senior customers for visiting a branch are ―cash withdrawals and deposits –basic banking services that could be reduced or replaced by digital payments. The bank has also launched a website to help customers recap what they learned. It includes short videos covering topics such as checking one‘s account balance or making PayNow transfers.
CHINA
China's Tencent announces deep fake Video service
China's Tencent announces deep fake Video service
Chinese mega-firm Tencent has announced a deep fake cloud service. Interested parties can create a digital version of a real person for a few bucks. The new service needs a little data to start. Customers must upload three minutes of live-action video and 100 spoken sentences to train the model. Then, in as little as 24 hours, a new digital human will be born. The result will be a video of someone saying and doing things they never did. Naturally, Tencent doesn't call this a deep fake, but that's what it is. Tencent cites the possibility that an AI-generated person could host live-streamed infomercials, a popular component of e-commerce in China. Rather than pay a person to host all those streams, a company could just order a new video for each new stream based on the data they've already collected. The fee for this service is 1,000 Yuan (about $145) for each video. Tencent will offer various video styles, including 3D realistic, 3D semi-realistic, 2D realistic, and 2D cartoon. Digital humans can be generated as full-body models or from the waist up. Tencent Cloud also boasts it can create custom Q&A videos with realistic voice tone and inflection. The service is available in Chinese as well as English. Deepfakes have proliferated on the internet for several years, sometimes with legitimate uses. However, the technology is perhaps most closely associated with pornography. With enough high-resolution photos, it's possible to digitally alter a performer's face to make them appear to be someone else.
ASIA
JPX blockchain green bond report highlights new market challenges
Fintech to become $1.5 trillion industry by 2030
SAP embeds AI into solutions, launches ERP for SMEs in Southeast Asia
Monoova and Primer to augment flexible digital payments in Australia
Cashfree payments and YES BANK to offer international payment collection service to Indian exporters
Kiwi launches "Credit on UPI" solution for its customers
NIPL partners with PPRO to offer Indian consumers e-commerce payments globally
UPI transactions decline in volume & value terms in April
HDFC kick-starts $1 billion Credila sale by picking Jefferies as adviser
Shopify launches bill pay, a time-saving tool for merchant expenses
Bank and fintech partnerships should focus on financial inclusion
Softbank partners Sushi Machines to offer AI solutions
Unispend launches to revolutionize crypto spending globally
JPX blockchain green bond report highlights new market challenges
JPX, the parent of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, published a report following feedback from more than 50 companies on the blockchain-based green bond issuance it made last year. Several key challenges including the lack of on-chain settlement. While most Japanese bonds would be settled via delivery versus payment (DvP), the tokenized bond currently settles free of payment. In other words, the securities are transferred without acknowledgment of payment which is done separately using conventional means. Custodian banks must manually process the bond transfer and payments, making it less efficient than conventional bonds. One solution is to support payment through automated settlement with digital currencies or an external payment linkage and potentially allow custodian banks to have access to the blockchain. Another challenge is the need for a secondary market. Investor appetite will be limited if the only option is to sell the bonds back to the underwriter. This will not result in competitive pricing.
Fintech to become $1.5 trillion industry by 2030
Financial technology revenues are projected to grow sixfold from $245 billion to $1.5 trillion by 2030, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and QED Investors. The fintech sector, which currently holds a two percent share of the $12.5 trillion in global financial services revenue, is estimated to grow to seven percent. The payments sector will grow fivefold to $520 billion, driven by cross-border payments, “payment-plus” models (bill pay and payment apps offering adjacent services such as wallet services), and the proliferation of use cases driven by real-time payments. But, it will be the B2B2X and B2b (serving small businesses) that will lead the next era of fintech, says the report. B2B2X is made up of B2B2C, B2B2B, and financial infrastructure players. The B2B2X market is expected to grow at a 25% CAGR to reach $440 billion in annual revenues by 2030, supported by growth in embedded finance and financial infrastructure. The B2b fintech market is expected to grow at a 32% CAGR to reach $285 billion in annual revenue by providing solutions to credit-starved and poorly served small businesses. Asia-Pacific is poised to outpace the US and become the world’s top fintech market by 2030, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27%. This growth will be driven primarily by emerging economies such as China, India, and Indonesia that have the largest fintechs, voluminous underbanked populations, a high number of small and medium-sized enterprises, and a rising tech-savvy youth and middle class.
SAP embeds AI into solutions, launches ERP for SMEs in Southeast Asia
SAP has recently announced that it will embed IBM Watson technology into its solutions to provide new AI-driven insights and automation to help businesses accelerate innovation as well as create efficient and effective user experiences across its application portfolio. SAP will use IBM Watson's capabilities to power its digital assistant in SAP Start, which provides a unified entry point for cloud solutions from SAP. With SAP Start, users can search for, launch and interactively engage with apps provided in cloud solutions from SAP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud. New AI capabilities in SAP Start will be designed to help users boost productivity with both natural language capabilities and predictive insights. Over in Southeast Asia, SAP also launched a new offering to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) adopt cloud ERP that enables speed, predictability, and continuous innovation. The GROW with SAP solution also includes the SAP Business Technology Platform for SMEs to define their own processes in a cloud-native way using SAP Build. With the help of SAP Build solutions, business users can create enterprise apps, automate processes, and design business sites without writing code, an important asset for those closest to the business who can create the solutions they need.
Monoova and Primer to augment flexible digital payments in Australia
Rupee payments at its point-of-sale (PoS) terminals. Australia-based payment service provider Monoova has partnered with commerce automation platform Primer to facilitate easier, seamless payments in Australia. With this partnership, Primer will offer PayTo and PayID enabled by Monoova, in addition to over 100 commerce and payment apps available on its platform. The move provides Primer‘s global customers, with operations in Australia, access to New Payment Platform‘s real-time payment method, spearheaded by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which is set to innovate the management of direct debits in Australia. In the near future, the partnership will also enable Monoova‘s customers in Australia to access more digital payment options, including Apple and Google Pay through Primer, giving Australian businesses a bigger piece of the e-commerce pie at home and abroad.
Cashfree payments and YES BANK to offer international payment collection service to Indian exporters
Cashfree Payments and YES BANK have come together to offer "Global Collections", an international collection service for exporters, who are account holders of YES BANK. Under this partnership, the Bank‘s account holders will be able to collect payments in over 30 foreign currencies using the Global Collections service. The funds so received can then be converted into INR and settled into their local bank account in India within one business day. Exporters will be able to share their payment collection details with their buyers over email, SMS, or WhatsApp, and the buyers will be able to make payments using local rails like Automated Clearing House (ACH), Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), etc. Some of the Key benefits of using Global Collections for exporters include Fast onboarding; Auto-generation of e-FIRA within a day; Seamless reconciliation of incoming payments and settlements; Payment will be settled in INR to exporter‘s YES BANK account in India; Exporters can give their overseas client options to pay via local bank transfer, like ACH or SEPA; Ability to accept payments from over 180 countries in more than 30 currencies; Save more on FX compared to traditional swift for small value transactions.
Kiwi launches "Credit on UPI" solution for its customers
Kiwi, a credit card platform, has announced the launch of its all-in-one ―Credit on UPI, solution for customers. Certified by the NPCI, Kiwi is the first app in India that will help customers experience ―Credit on UPI by issuing Rupay Cards in partnership with banks. With this launch, the company aims to create one of the largest direct-to-consumer (D2C) models in the credit market through its mobile application, which offers users the ability to make payments using either a credit card or bank account directly through their phones in a secure manner. Kiwi users will be issued a RuPay credit card, digitally and instantly. Post receiving the card, users will be able to link the card to UPI on the app and will be able to use the ―Credit on UPI‖ transactions facility at offline as well as online stores. The Kiwi app will also help users manage their cards with a host of facilities like blocking cards, increasing limits, and making card payments while rewarding them for every transaction.
NIPL partners with PPRO to offer Indian consumers e-commerce payments globally
NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has executed a definitive agreement confirming the partnership with digital payments infrastructure provider PPRO. The agreement aims at expanding RuPay card and UPI acceptance across PPRO‘s global clients such as payment service providers (PSPs) and global merchant acquirers. This association will drive NIPL‘s continued expansion into foreign markets and will add India to PPRO‘s Local Payment Method (LPM) coverage map. The partnership between NIPL and PPRO will empower the global PSPs, Banks, payment gateways, and enterprises with payment platforms to expand globally giving international e-commerce merchants access to Indian consumers. For consumers, this means they can seamlessly make cross-border purchases in Indian Rupees using their favorite payment method.
UPI transactions declined in volume & value terms in April
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions declined in volume as well as value terms in April 2023 after peaking in the previous month. Transaction volumes declined 7. 96 percent month-on-month (m-o-m) in April 2023 to 796. 29 crore against 865. 16 crore in March 2023, per the National Payments Corporation of India‘s ―UPI Monthly Product Statistics. Transaction value declined 9. 51 percent m-o-m in April 2023 to ₹12. 71 lakh crore against ₹14. 04 lakh crore in March 2023. UPI is a single mobile application for accessing different bank accounts. Its features include immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock; allows ―Pull & Push‖/ send/collect money transactions with virtual address; allows utility bill payments, over-the-counter payments, QR code-based payments.
HDFC kick-starts $1 billion Credila sale by picking Jefferies as adviser
Housing Development Finance Corp., India‘s largest mortgage financier, has picked Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to manage the sale of a unit that offers student loans. HDFC could seek a value of as much as $1 billion for HDFC Credila Financial Services Ltd. in a sale, which is part of the lender‘s moves to comply with regulators‘ requirements for its merger with HDFC Bank Ltd. Jefferies has started initial talks with interested bidders, and a formal process for the sale may be launched soon. The Reserve Bank of India has given the merged entity two years to cut its stake in fully-owned Credila to 10%, HDFC Bank said in an exchange filing last month. The sale mandate will be one of the biggest managed by Jefferies in the country and will help in its ambition to build a deal advisory business in the local market.
Shopify launches bill pay, a time-saving tool for merchant expenses
Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform, is launching a new tool, Shopify Bill Pay, offering merchants the ability to manage and pay vendors directly from the Shopify admin dashboard, with no subscription fees. This new tool will help small business owners save an average of 16 hours per month on business bill payments and will be twice as fast as other B2B expense solutions. Shopify Bill Pay, powered by Melio, a leading B2B payments platform for small businesses, allows merchants to track expenses and manage vendors without ever leaving their Shopify admin dashboard. This allows for easy scheduling, paying, and management of B2B payments. Key features of Shopify Bill Pay include the ability to select a preferred payment method, use a dedicated bill pay dashboard to filter, sort, and schedule payments, and upload expenses through email and images. Furthermore, merchants can pay with credit, even if the vendor doesn‘t accept it, offering flexibility in payment options.
Bank and fintech partnerships should focus on financial inclusion
Partnerships between banks and fintech companies are already around for some time now in India and many of these partnerships have been a win-win so far. But they still have a long way to go when it comes to achieving financial inclusion or even serving the personalized needs of their customers. While customers have a lot of trust in traditional banks and feel safe and secured while interacting with a physical banker even today, fintech companies bring in technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics that offer a complete 360-degree view of the customer to serve them faster and more efficiently. Banks to come up with apps and platforms with user-friendly designs and adaptive menus, to suit customers' hyper-personalized needs. For example, the needs of men and women especially in the rural areas are entirely different, and farmers and small businesses continue to look for simplified lending processes and user-friendly schemes, he noted. These are areas where banks and fintechs can collaborate to bring in robust business models and innovative schemes and services.
Softbank partners Sushi Machines to offer AI solutions
SoftBank Robotics Australia has announced its partnership with Sushi Machines, a wholesale distributor in Australia. It will start offering robotic and AI solutions for restaurants in Australia to optimize their business. Sushi Machines will start offering their customers Gausium's tray delivery robot, Delivery X1, as part of their efficient, hygienic, and consistent solutions that address ongoing worker shortages in the hospitality industry. Sushi Machines is also exhibiting Delivery X1 at their booth(E31) of Food Service Australia, the food service exhibition held from April 30 to May 2 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Delivery X1 is a stylishly designed yet highly functional tray delivery robot produced by one of SoftBank Robotics' global partners, Gausium (alias "Gaussian Robotics"). It leverages technological capabilities from Gausium and can safely transport and deliver large volumes of food and beverages and replenish items on up to four trays. As a cleaning robot provider, Gausium's self-owned SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) technology allows Delivery X1 to perform flexibly in complex, dynamic environments and can perceive and create semantic maps of its surroundings. For example, in a restaurant, it can detect and avoid people, obstacles, and other objects while serving food, ensuring no disruption to its service or those around it.
Unispend launches to revolutionize crypto spending globally
Unispenda leading web3 infrastructure company, announced the public launch of its groundbreaking crypto-to-commerce protocol, Unispend Protocol. This innovative platform allows users to easily spend their digital assets on everyday items directly from their non-custodial wallets and enables Developers, Wallets, and Crypto networks to natively integrate spending and unlock utility for users. Unispend currently supports Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Celo, and the XRP Ledger. Users can connect their wallets to Unispend and pay for over 500 million products on Amazon or Shopify, 1,000+ gift cards, airtime in 8 countries, and mobile money in 9 countries. To celebrate the launch, Unispend is offering a 5% rebate in USDC on purchases made with any supported token this week only. Designed to preserve self-sovereignty, Unispend eliminates the need for third-party access to users‘ assets. Each transaction is signed and approved individually, maintaining the highest level of security. The platform‘s one-stop shopping experience eliminates the need for users to send crypto to exchanges, convert to fiat, and transfer to bank accounts, streamlining the spending process.
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And that's it for this week's What The Fintech! 🎉 We hope you've found our selection of Asia's fintech trends, innovations, and insights both informative and valuable. Your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so please share your thoughts to help us curate content that matters most to you. 🌟
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Until next week, keep exploring the future of finance together! ✨
Your Fintech Navigator,
Medhy
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